Articles of Confederation Project

The Articles of Confederation

AP American History

Introduction: Once Independence was declared the new nation had a name, a flag and an army. What they lacked, was a government. What then would be the shape of this new government? What type of leader would be in charge? How much liberty would the states and citizens have? These questions faced our Founding/Forming Fathers in 1777 and continue to be debated by our nation today.

Words to know: Confederation radical "the Critical Period" conservative “mobocracy” Annapolis Convention, 1786 anarchy Land Ordinances Shays Rebellion Northwest Ordinance of 1787 Depression of 1787 Newburgh Conspiracy (1783) Jay-Gardoqui Treaty Adams-Carmarthen negotiations

Text Resources: American Pageant pp. 164-177 and Zinn pp. 77-95

Study Questions: (Handwritten, minimum 50 words) 1. Consider how America and American government would be different if the Articles of Confederation had remained the national government.—Due November 17

Friday, October 31: How revolutionary was the Revolution? Reading on the American Revolution and complete the chart to see if the Revolution was a radical or a conservative movement. For Monday: Read "The Radical Revolution an Interview with Gordon Wood" and answer the related questions.

Monday, November 3: We will continue to discuss whether the Revolution was a radical or conservative movement. This will require us to define who made up each group during this time in American history. In our groups we will attempt to assess the document to gain information on how the Confederation was representative of the preservation of individual liberties as opposed to the politics of national interest. For Tuesday: Read American Pageant, pages 164-177 For Wednesday: Read Zinn pages 77-95 and answer the related questions

Tuesday, November 4: We will work on the Group project on "The Articles of Confederation: The Challenge of Sovereignty”. This will help us to analyze the pros and cons of this document. It will also help us to understand the mindset of those who created the Articles, Wednesday, Nov 5: We will compare and contrast the views of Wood with Zinn to identify the portions of the rebellion that were radical or conservative. These should help in our analysis of the Articles to determine the type of government that was created. We will also continue to work on the projects from Tuesday. For Friday: Read “A State of Crisis” and bring to class a list of issues and events that led to a revision of the Articles of Confederation. (Minimum of 10)

Thursday, Nov 6: Assess the problems and success of the newly formed government by analyzing events of the time period

Friday, Nov 7: A discussion of American Foreign Policy during the Confederation. We will also discuss the problems that threatened the young nation.

Monday, Nov 10: We will summarize our discussion of the Articles of Confederation and discussing how to answer Document Based Questions (DBQ).

Tuesday, Nov 11: Review and go over questions relating to the unit or DBQ’s

Wednesday, Nov 12: DBQ on the Articles of Confederation